Hands on with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12mm f/2.0 Snap Focus lens (24mm equivalent), and sample photos. The new Micro Four Thirds lens features snap focus, simply pull back the focusing ring and it will show the focal length (distance to subject), and let you manually focus the lens, this feature is great for quick street photography. To switch back to auto focus, push the focus ring back to the normal position. The majority of the time we used it in auto focus as the focusing was extremely quick with the new Olympus PEN E-P3.

Images of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12mm f/2.0 lens: Click to enlarge

On the Olympus PEN E-P3	Top
Front	Back

Sample photos from the Olympus PEN E-P3 and Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12mm f/2.0 lens - Click to view full size samples:

Close focus, blurred background bokeh.	From the hip.
High contrast.	Into the sun.
High contrast black and white art filter.	High contrast black and white art filter.
Low light.	Shooting from the hip.
Wide.	Sky light.
Street.	Horses.

The full size photos are well worth viewing, as the image quality and sharpness of this lens is very good, with excellent detail right to the corners, and very little flare (unless you specifically try and induce it by shooting into the sun). The manual focus ring feels very good in hand with just the right amount of dampening. Chromatic aberration can be seen in the corners of the images in some of the shots, particularly where there is a high level of contrast. Check back soon for our full review of the Olympus PEN E-P3 for more on the camera's image quality.

Hands on with the Olympus 45mm lens

Unfortunately production models were not available as this lens was running a v0.9 firmware.

Click to enlarge - 45mm lens	Click to enlarge - 45mm lens

The all metal lens feels great, and looks great with 7 aperture blades. The lower price of £300 should make this more appealing if you had to choose between the two lenses.

For more on the new Olympus PEN models and lenses have a look at:
Olympus PEN E-P3 Hands On Preview.
Olympus PEN E-PL3 Lite Hands On Preview.
Olympus PEN E-PM1 Mini Hands On Preview.
Olympus PEN E-P3, E-PL3, Panasonic Lumix G3 Size Comparison.
Olympus PEN Camera, Lens, Flash, and Accessories Announcements.